Prem baby - do you aim to wean at 6 months or corrected age?

[Jack2601]

Hi - first of all let me say that I am NOT under any circumstances contemplating weaning DS yet, it is just something that I have been wondering about for when the time comes.

DS is 14 weeks (7 corrected, premature due to pre-eclampsia) and everyone talks about this magical 6 months when you start weaning, but would I do it when DS was 6 months actual age, or wait another 7 weeks... or is it a case of waiting for the signs and doing it then. What I suppose I am asking is if I don't see any signs at 6 months, do I wait or would I be depriving DS if I didn't at least give weaning a go at that age?

Hi Jack- my DD was 6 wks prem due to pre-eclampsia too. I think generally you go with corrected age, but can wean when you think they are ready. I was just about to start weaning at (4 1/2 months corrected) because she was suddenly very interested in what we were eating and was sitting up well and suddenly not sleeping as well. As it happens this was the same week we had our 6 months check at the SCBU and so I asked the doc and he said she was ready. If you are unsure I am sure you can call up SCBU and ask.

I was told with my older ones (35,31 and 33) to wean at 4 months old uncorrected, (as it was 4 months then) but with Ds2 (33 weeks) I was told to wait as long as possible I weaned at 7 months old

According to bliss www.bliss.org.uk/page.asp?section=000100010001000100240008&search=weaning you go according to the real age - iirc, this is due to iron stores which begin to deplete once the baby is not in utero...

Hi, my DS was 7 weeks early and was also adviced to started weaning at uncorrected age of 5 months due to depleting iron and vitamin stores. Seems to be a lot of debate as to what to do. Might be worth calling Bliss or your SCBU for some advice?

Thanks everybody. Like I said, I know we are a fair bit off that mark. I just can't imagine DS being ready to be weaned by 6mths. He is barely taking 4ozs at each feed at the moment and 3 months will have a funny way of passing quickly!!

I'd go with weaning when he seems ready - ie, sitting, holding head up, able to pick up food and get it to mouth, loss of tongue thrust etc.

Instinctively I feel they develop these skills at around the time they could do with some food.

My DTs were 12 weeks premature, and the advice from the dietician at the hospital was to wean at 6 months actual age. Apparently if you leave it too long there can be developmental issues.

I'm finding that they're a bit slower than DS1 was, but getting the hang of it now after about a month. It's also more tricky because they're not sitting up by themselves yet, and there's a bit of juggling as too much food means they take too little milk.

Mostly we are all covered in orange coloured veg puree...